As gratifying as that honor is, and as proud as I am of the Computerworld team it recognizes, there was something else I enjoyed just as much: the opportunity to meet a certain journalist who also received a prestigious ASBPE award.

That journalist is Shabnam Mogharabi, who won the third annual Stephen Barr Award for feature writing. Mogharabi, also one of this year's ASBPE Young Leaders Scholarship winners, was honored for her two-part feature in Aquatics International titled "Minority Report," in which she delved into why minority youths account for a disproportionately high number of drowning deaths in the U.S.

I was impressed enough with Mogharabi to be compelled to read her story, and I was appalled by the stereotyping she uncovered. The story referenced a 1969 study called "The Negro and Learning to Swim," which contended that blacks are biologically less buoyant than whites because of higher bone density and body mass. Despite dozens of subsequent studies that have proved this outlandish notion to be false, it seems many black parents continue to buy into the belief. Consequently, they're disinclined to encourage their children to pursue swimming, and the children's resultant inability to swim is a recipe for disaster at swimming pools.

It's a sad social commentary. As the father of a daughter who is as fair-skinned as her husband is black, I wonder what the perpetuators of this myth would say about the buoyancy of my two grandchildren. Maybe they're half-buoyant.

I mention all of this simply because stereotyping is so harmful, whether it's based on race, religion, class, gender, ethnicity -- or even profession. And the fact is, stereotyping of IT professionals has harmed this industry.